Think my hen has gapeworms, but also has roundworms....Safeguard question

[SeattleLeah]

Sorry for you loss. Send her to the state lab for necropsy.

-Kathy

Thanks Kathy,

I took her to WSU for a necropsy. They should have results for me this afternoon or tomorrow. Fingers crossed it wasnt something terribly contagious. My birds all free range every day and im sure it must have been something from wild birds because I only hatch, dont buy any live chickens (my policy after a bad case of mites was brought in by a pullet I bought last year). I know some things can be trasmitted through embryos but that seems unlikely.

 

[SeattleLeah]

The vet believes it was a tumor. She found a large mass on the lungs that connected to other tissues. She says it is not wet pox. She is running a blood culture to rule out any bacterial cause and histology to see what kind of tumor it was and make sure thats what it was. Im so relieved its not liekly to be something that will effect the rest of my flock!

Her e is the necropsy report:

The carcass of a 15-week-old female chicken was submitted for laboratory evaluation.
The bird has a small raised knob on the base of the beak. She is thin and has moderate depletion of the
breast muscle. The keel (breast bone) has an “S” shape.
The most striking internal gross change is replacement of the left lung with a large, white, amorphous
mass. The mass is attached to the ribs and intercostal muscle and fills the space of the anterior and
posterior thoracic air sacs. There is about 3 cc yellowish fluid in the left posterior air sac.
The ovary is grossly abnormal, large and reddened.
No other significant gross changes are noted in this bird

GROSS DIAGNOSES: Pulmonary disease, severe

COMMENTS: The changes in the lung and air sacs can explain the clinical signs (gasping and stretching
the neck) observed in this bird. Although I believe this is a neoplasia (tumor), I would like to confirm it by
histology. I would also like to make sure that bacteria are not involved in this process. The gross changes
are NOT consistent with wet pox